My daughter, Emily, called for our usual update on life. She is a college junior in Nashville and we have moved all the way to Arkansas. We talk several times a week to keep up with what’s going on in our lives. I love having the technology to stay that involved despite the miles that separate us.

Emily shared about school, her new job and social club activities. Then she said, “Dad, get this. My friend Kimberly is from Atlanta. Her dad is an executive in a high-rise building downtown. He has been really feeling like God wants him to go help out in Haiti with the earthquake relief. So, on Friday he came in to work and told his boss he wanted a week’s vacation the following week to go to Haiti to work with relief efforts. His boss’s response was, ‘Atlanta needs you more than Haiti does.’ The following Monday, he came in and handed his boss a letter of resignation and said, ‘I believe you’re wrong. Haiti needs me more than Atlanta.’ And he quit his job to go to Haiti indefinitely.”

I was blown away! Emily was blown away! What obedience to the call of God! What willingness to sacrifice for the sake of following God’s leadership. I want to be able to follow God that way. I want to be able to hear the voice of God and say “I believe you’re wrong” to the voices that speak “reason” and not abandon. Many have done so thus far to give in a very real way so that the people of Haiti may experience the hands and arms of Jesus.

Shaun King has made a huge impact through simply coordinating efforts on the ground through Twitter communication, among other things. Shaun is the pastor of The Courageous Church in Atlanta (is there a pattern developing here?..lol). Below is a guest post by Shaun as he shares the journal of a doctor volunteering in Haiti. I hope this inspires prayers and action from my readers. When God speaks, let’s be willing to say “I believe you’re wrong” to the naysayers and voices of “reason.”

Raw Journal from One of Our Doctors on the Ground

A few days ago I met Dr. Mavis Jaworski online. We were friends on Facebook already but had little interaction. She saw a request for doctors in Haiti by my good friend Lanny Donoho and answered the call by traveling with an organized team from Miami yesterday. She just emailed me her journal from yesterday. Mavis once worked for PBS and is also filming some videos with the hope of helping medical trips there better prepare….

POWERFUL & INSTRUCTIVE (whether you are a doctor or not).

—–

I am currently in Haiti, Physicians need more assistance with organized flights to and from Haiti, ground travel coordination and experienced driver. maps of Haiti with locations of hospitals and contacts. Kreol lessons on medical issues.
Paper/plastic products for eating, and cleanup. A best most compact list of what to take to Haiti. head flashlight essential.
your own compact towel flipflops for shower, scrubs, etc..
A lot of time is being wasted trying to get to Haiti then trying to locate your destination and getting there, and then having to spend too much time on standby for the return because all flights full, have to go 2 days earlier so that I do not miss my flight from FLA to Boston. I hope this is helpful.

Can’t sleep. The penthouse is hot. coming and going neighbors.
Tomorrow night we may move up to the next roof which has no walls.
Our current home has walls which block breezes.
A Sesame Street Ernie hangs from our tent.
My tent mate saw and said “This establishes ownership”.
I chuckled to myself.
He has been up practicing Kreol after trying it in vain with a person, only to find out that the woman spoke English.

What is needed?
Organization.
so many various teams coming and going.
Need to coordinate ER.

Now I go back to pent house. and the fragrance of Deet.

One doctor elated to be going home after 6 days another is very sad to be leaving after 6 days.
Dedicated teams, all named by state or country.
Some teams only want to do certain things.
coordination of travel and ER, OR much needed.

Things one should bring to Haiti.
DEET
Tent
Bed with pump
Bedding for a hot climate
shower Flip Flops
Shamwow towel to dry with.
Light weight Scrubs, it is hot.
Headlamp flashlight
English:Kreol translation book.
Global phone
Camera
Journal materials so you never forget
disinfectant cloths
Map of Haiti, with medical facilities on it including, time and distance from airport and taxi fare charge amount.
Comfy shoes to work all day.
Easy to eat protein (nuts).
A cup to make coffee or tea in.
Melatonin, after what you see it is tricky to sleep, but you must.
Sharpie markers
Sticky labels for your personal items, and for attaching to a patient bed (waiting for surgery, waiting for xray, waiting for medication, etc). to avoid redundant work ups by different docs.
Back up eyeglasses
Elastics for hair.
Toothbrush, toothpaste, gargle.
Lots of prepackaged food is here and it has way too much sodium.
this with the heat makes everyones feet swell.

small prepackaged little distractors and snacks for patients.
is there an inexpensive MP3 player that can be loaded with Haitian music and given to Haitians, they are at a loss as what to do, they wait and wait.
they need music,
they need something to to write or draw with.

we need melatonin for them.
we need to help them calm their nerves.
we need to provide human touch
the eyes are vacant
they are stunned
it is sad.

we need dry erase white boards with markers, small dry erase white boards with markers
we need a large and small bulletin boards with pins
Get office supply places to donate.

Get Crayola to donate crayons and paper for children to play with.

It would be helpful to have id bracelets or necklaces with cards of information attached for patients ( to write brief history on them. (prev med visits, dx, Rx)
loose sheets of progress notes paper fly around.
Bill Gates help us coordinate set up of efficiency in places.

We need communication devices for teams,
Nextel?
Thanks,

Have you heard the voice of God calling and been reluctant to obey? What stands in your way? What do you need to do right now to be obedient to His call?